Isaac Austin continued his strong play in place of the injured
Alonzo Mourning by collecting career highs of 33 points and 22
rebounds in a 108-104 victory over the reeling Toronto Raptors.

Austin scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and secured the
victory when he got behind the defense for an easy dunk with 3.1
seconds to play. Entering the game, Austin had been averaging
17.2 points and 8.9 rebounds as the starting center in place of
Mourning, who has yet to play this season following knee
surgery.

"The last time I scored 33 points I was in high school, and the
last time I had 22 rebounds I was overseas," Austin said. "It's
a great accomplishment and my teammates did a good job of
getting me the ball."

Toronto led 77-75 early in the fourth quarter when Dan Majerle
drained two straight three-pointers to put Miami ahead for good.
Majerle, who was just activated from the injured list, finished
with 16 points and was 5-of-6 from behind the arc as the Heat
won their fifth straight home game.

"My first five (three-pointers) were all good looks. I expected
them to go in," said Majerle, who had been sidelined with a back
injury. "It's great to be back in uniform and not sitting on
the sidelines."

John Wallace scored 28 points and Damon Stoudamire added 21, 11
assists and eight rebounds for the Raptors (1-11), who have
dropped a franchise-record nine straight games and own the
Eastern Conference's worst record.

"We lost a game but its not like we laid down," Wallace said.
"It didn't go our way. We outplayed them. They escaped with a
win and they know it."

Austin helped prevent the Raptors from taking the lead on two
occasions down the stretch. Shawn Respert sank two free throws
to pull Toronto within 85-84 with 6:48 to play, but Austin
answered with a jumper just 17 seconds later.

Shortly thereafter, Miami's Terry Mills hit three straight
baskets to build the lead to 95-87 with 4:06 to go. Wallace
came back with three consecutive buckets to cut the deficit to
two points with 2:31 left. But Austin drew the foul on the
other end and hit two more free throws.

After Majerle made 1-of-2 from the foul line, Toronto's Marcus
Camby made it 104-102 with nine seconds left when he converted a
three-point play. Tim Hardaway was fouled immediately and sank
both free throws before Wallace drained a fallaway jumper with
5.4 seconds to go. But the ensuing inbounds pass went all the
way down court to a wide-open Austin, who faked the defender and
put home the slam to seal the win.

"Ike was incredible. Dan coming in and making five threes means
so much to us. Terry broke through in the fourth quarter and we
needed everything we got," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "It's the
mark of a team that is committed and conditioned."

Austin made 12-of-29 shots from the field and 9-of-9 from the
foul line, setting career highs in free throws made and field
goals attempted. He tied a career high by playing 43 minutes
and became the fourth player in franchise history to record 30
or more points and 20 or more rebounds in a game.

Hardaway had 15 points and a season-high 13 assists for Miami,
which scored 38 fourth-quarter points after getting held to half
that in the final 12 minutes of a loss to Charlotte on Friday.
Hardaway also notched his 5,000th career assist.

Mark Strickland started for Miami in place of P.J. Brown, who is
sidelined with bronchitits, and chipped in nine points and eight
boards.

Doug Christie scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half,
helping the Raptors to a 51-46 halftime lead. Camby contributed
12 and eight rebounds but made just 5-of-15 shots for Toronto,
which was unable to build on its 73-70 lead after three
quarters.

"We've got to go out like madmen," Christie said. "It's at the
end of games that we're losing. You saw what they did, we've
got to learn to win like that, too."

The Raptors fell to 0-6 on the road and 2-6 all-time against the
Heat.

"We've got to learn to win on the road. We can't embarrass
ourselves," Christie added.